Alderman Wants Companies Seeking City Subsidies To Disclose Tax Info

CHICAGO (CBS) — A South Side alderman has introduced a proposal to require corporations seeking city tax incentives to disclose their income tax details.

WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports Ald. Will Burns (4th) and some colleagues have sponsored a measure that would require large corporations seeking financial assistance from the city to declare how much they pay – or don’t pay – in corporate income taxes.

Burns said many corporations that seek city subsidies to move here, or keep their offices here, don’t pay their fair share of income tax. He said the public should know which companies are seeking city tax dollars, while not paying anything in corporate income tax.

“We should have an honest conversation in this state, and in this city, about who gets what, and for what purpose. And I’m tired of this race to the bottom, and corporations putting guns to our head, saying that we’re going to leave unless you give us $25 million, when you’re raking in $400 million in profit,” Burns said.

The alderman estimated two-thirds of publicly-traded corporations in Illinois don’t pay the corporate income tax.

The state imposes a 7 percent tax on corporate income, and an additional 2.5 percent on tax from sales within Illinois. Revenue from those taxes is divvied up among local governments and school districts.